The Sun. — London, England, 1809-08-11 00:00:00

70 GgIILLY2II LLOYD IFARDL.E; ESQ. SIR, Lt TIER n Before I proceed to inquire any, further into the justice of your claims to popularity and gold-boxes, I think it incumbent upon me to state my reasons for not being able to comply with your:wishes, ad dressed, under a very solemn pledge, to the Peeple of the United Kingdom, that all judgment and opi nion upon youtcondua should. be suspended: It is tint ,the long and indefinite term, during which we tray have to expea the Trial of Mrs. CLARKE, to jvhich you are committed; it is not. the gouty pace of law, nor the more than doubts I entertain that mite Grand Jury will throw out your Bill; which are in:perative'w:ith me to withhold my assent to.your Petition. It is altogether from error and a falSe principle, that you have preferred so unreasonable a request, and one cannpt but feel pity, and some thing more, for the weakness and vanity it be- trays. Between You and Mrs. CLARKE, a flame has been kindled froth One end of the kingdom to the other, and by the effea of your joint malice and Combination, a person of the most illustrious tank "Las been covered with the most unmerited obloquy, aid driven from a station in which he had rendered, and was continually rendering, not only the greatest services to the State and the Army, but services of auch.a'oature• as could only be derived from the union of the'same talent and indus►ry with the Roya l Influence and Charaeler, in order to enjoin and en force obedience to regulations, calculated to. repress the ituportunity and ambition of great and aspiring • The Resignation ,of the Duke of YORIL, Sir, is Your joint work ; the palm is divided between you and Mrs. Cr..a.arts, whose credit you are now Wedged to impeach, and whose head you must carry to the pillory, or brand your own forehead with an 'ndelible stigma. As far as relates to you, Sir, per -B"alih tir to this unfortunate female, I would not have withheld from you that suspension of opinion Which I , ou crave. It might not be unfair towards I her, as she stood in a better predicament than your self, as the Jury and Court who tried the issue be t tureen you, who decided upon your respe&ive claims to credibility, had determined in her favour ; and tog, in spite of all your weight of charatier, Your fire new popularity, and patriotism. But, Sir, there are other parties to this cause, to whom it Wt* 1d be the grossest injustice if we were to suspend Our opinion. There is the Duke of Irom, Sir, who Vitas been worried and hunted down by you; there is ' that wise and firm majority of the House of Corn- I nons, who were not to be duped or intimidated by 3'our artifices or your threats, and of whom so many I nembers are individually labouring under unjust and :! taunting censures from their weak and misled Con- Stituents. To all these parties it is indifferent whe , Cher You or Mrs. CLARKE are consigned to infamy. They have no interest in the issue you are to try ; and as they cannot be placed by the event in a beher °f a w orse situation, it is against every maxim and principle. o f law and justice, that they should be mad e to wait for it—for your exclusive convenience and accommodation. It wa s an ill-advised, a selfish, and a silly request ; i t vvis not the course of an ingenuous and honour able mind. Your own interests, Colonel WARDLE, ou ght not to have been the sole, nor the first, which p r esented themselves to your mind, upon the im portant discovery you had made of the real charac ier' a nd th e s p ec i es o f c r e dit w hi c h was d ue t o M rs. p '' L444 i; and when you found that witness, whose testitnony you had bolstered up (as you had bought it s upon whose evidence you had wounded your So vereign' and his Family, misled and inflamed a great portion of the Public, infused amongst the to wer classes a base and poisonous suspicion of al most general depravity and corruption ;—I say, Sir, *len you discovered the gross perjury for which You are now the Prosecutor, I appeal to the. corn reon sense and feeling of eery Englishman, whe ther there were not due some ad of reparation and ato n , t ' n ot, to y our G o d and your Sovereign, your Country and Lave presence d itself to a Your Vietirn ? Whether there w o uld pure and well-constituted :Lind, betrayed by menu err or into your unhappy predica- , no ' )u ster and more pressing Care, than of its selfish interests and factious popularity ? Whether a noble, virtuous, and, independent spirit, having dis covered the ptotligacy and perjury of the testimony upon which he had procured punishment upon an other, and derived advantage to himself, would have first improved the suspension of public opinion, Os it regarded himself, or the person be bad injured ? Whether he would have suffered the hope of en trapping a few more Bones during the Summer to have preceded the desire and the duty of offering sa zisia'Stion and expiation to the innocent and the o PPressed ? Sir, tht illustrioqs objea of your vindi6live ma when you unfolded your conspiracy with the 14C.P•ired CLARXE, 'did .rQt request delay or vapen- Sion. Ile provoked; he demanded, he Assisted 4r:- . quiry and'judgment. You Will not forget; sir, that ypu were not requested to forbear, bUt urged., and even dared to proceed. You were warned of the INFAMY yOu were about to draw upon your head, if you failed iii the proof of thos charges Yon Were, preferring, although no man then_ knew you bad either bought or .Suborned, the teStiMony yoU are now indiaing for perjury. Will you deny, Sir, that INFAMY has lighted somewhere? and will your friends pretend any longer to resent or scorn the threat of Mr. SeCretary CANNING ? Yes, Sir, it has lighted somewhere. It kas fallen upon that vain bead and guilty bosom, which procured and pur=- chased evidence -- which violated by force the sanc tity of confidential intercourse and private corres pondence—which sacrificed domestic peace and purity and fortune, to gratify disappointed ambition and revenge, which have been declared by a Jury to have attempted to withhold the promised bribe, and bilk the miserable prostitute whose bad pas sions they'had solitited and inflamed ! Or will your friends contest any longer with Mr. YORKE the ex istence of a Jacobin-plot, and a conspiracy to vi lify and degrade the Beira' Family. ? Before I proceed any further, it Occurs to me to request a little information from you or your ad herents, as to the 'nature and extent of the projeaed suspension ; I wish to know whether your proposal contains any thing of mutual advantage, or if the reciprocity is to be all on your own side ?. Are all the organised lies and libels .and inveaives, the whole art and system of slander and defamation, which COBBETT, HoGAN, You, and others, have direaed against your Sovereign's House, to remain in °their rank vigour and pruriency ; or may we hope, Sir, from your candour, that you will_ suspend ope rations upon your part ? Is it a fair armistice that Co lonel' WARDI.g proposes to his Sovereign's Son ? and am Ito understand that he will lay down his arms for the autumn—.that he will treat for COBBETT and the other Powers in the war, and will contain and repress the whole Jacobin insurrection ? I am the more induced to require explanation upon /his head, as I have reason to:believe Mr. COBBETT in-particular to have become extremely furious k and desperate since his real charaaer and history have been disclosed—since he has confessed that he fled from a Court' Martial at which he was prosecutor, and where he was bound by very soletunrand even horrid oaths, to attend and prove his-. accusation and this from a dread of being sertt to Botany Bay the means the gallows), for outrages of which he had peen guilty in the very regiment against the of ficers of which he was preferring those charge s .*_ Mr. COBBETT has also affirmed that such Sheriffs' as refuse to convene their counties to vote boxes to you, Sir, make use of the AUTHORITY OP THE KING in opposition to Mr. WARDLE, and lest we should miss the sense, the true Jacobin sting, of this democra tic epigram,' he concludes thus- 1 ' Well ! let them do it: 'we shall see who will lose by it in the end !"f Thus, Sir, we are threatened by the, most a&ive pf, your allies, for putting the authority of the King in opposition to you ; you are the ADORATUM POPULO CAPUT ! and those who put the King's authority in competi tion with your popularity, are warned of the conse quences by no less a Party than COEBETT ! Now, Sir, I will own to you that the flat and contemptible nonsense of CORBETT, in attributing this crime to the Sheriffs, who have exercised their judgment be tween the weight of property, &c. &c. which de manded or protested againsi these conventions of their several counties, would have rendered it alto-' gether unworthy of my notice, if it had not been very confidently, very authentically communicated to me, that you are, or have very lately been, ac tually treating for a residence in the near neighbour hood of Windsor Castle!! lam sure, Sir, you will not lose a moment (during the present suspension of opinion) to cot - Art:diet in the most public form a Repbrt so injurious to you 7 —whether your desire to' reside under the walis of the King's palace be consi dered as a part of Mr.COBBETT'S system of placing Mr. WARDLE'S popular weight in a balance with the au thority of the legal Head of the nation ; or be sim ply a branch of your own plans of espionage and su bornation ! ! ! I have the honour to be, Your very obedient, &c. BIUTANNICUS. London, Aug. 5, 1809. * See Mr. Cobbctes Dcfence.—Political Register, June 17, 1809.. Rcgiter, July t, 1309; Erratum iii the last Letter. Line 42, for deprecated read defecated. The late King of SWEDEN, it is . said, has obtained' permission to retire with . his family int o Switzer land ; but 'surely in venturing into a place depen dent upon BOON AP/1104, lie would only be rushing into the jaws of a lion. After having so resolutely signalized himself against the Tyrant of France, and treated him as what he is, a vil e U surper, h e h as every thing to fear from the vengeance of such a mail, and ought to refiett upon the fate of the un t,:qtimatd Duke D'llaituri. THE • OFFICIAL 'ARTICLE. , PROM 7'HE MADRIb oAitilE; .ii/Lt 17. If war be a disorder inseparably attached to the social state; civilization and more enlightened Views have disarmed it of its most fatal consequences. It has, in consequence, assumed a less sanguinary ap pearance among the nations who profeSs the Christian religion= - -a religion fraught with charity, lote, and benevolence. The captive; seized on the field- cif battle no longer dreads indignities perpetrated'hy former azi,ti—no longer shrinks with terror at the prospect 01 chainS and slavery at a distance frorri his home, still more terrible than death triumphal car drags him bound to its wheels; no public. Sale rednces him to a level with the bilue, to serve an unpitying master, crushed beneath, the weight of toils and cruelties. Prisoners now experience the kindness due to misfoitune. - Separated for 1 while from their families, the well-Uunded hope that peace will shortly restate them to their habitation and their friends, allays their grief and'oheers their captivity. Ever since the establishment 'of a standing force in the heart of ,every European State, civilized na tions have bound theniSelves' to employ regular troops alone, 'and not tumultuous crowds of insub ordinate peasants, unable to support the attack of a welt-disciplined -and experienced enemy, in the de cision of. their differences: Whatever the causes of the war may be, in order to diminish its calamities, it is. agreed that the peaceful inhabitant of the coun try shonid be respelled ; that only strong places and citadels should be defended; and that a fruitless op position made in villages and open. towns cab htive no other aim than to effe& the ruin of their inhabi tants by the destru6tion of their goods and property. In a word, to conquer, and not to destroy, is now the sole acknowledged end of war. Until the_ present times, _this lawful mode of war faze had been the only one pradised,by the Spa niards, in the bosom of their own Peninsula, as well as in foreign countries.' Murder had never stained the reputation of their warriors.—But n 4 -; satisfied with the common evils o f war , an d ti dreadful consequences of anarchy, which they alone have produced, those who have hurried.their coun trymen into the present war wish to give - it a charac ter of ferocity which appals humanity, and which scarcely equalled even among savages, covers its thors with indelible shame. The abnegation of every humane feeling, and hatred for their own country, can alone have led the Junta of Seville to issue the order d.tttd the 4t h of January of the present year, which dooms every Spanish village that sha►i nut oppose the passage of French troops to the flames. The laws of war, according to all the writers on that subject, especially the celebrated Marquis de Santa Cruz, in his Commentaries, authorise an hos tile General to raze every village which, although not fortified nor garrisoned, pretends to resist, or where any of his soldiers has been murdered. Thus the death of a single [pan would caUse the destruc tion of hundreds, or at least, would legitimate plunder, and all the excesses which a peaceful con duct could, and ought to have prevented. • This decree, however, is not more pernicious than that issued by the same Junta, which autho rises the formation ‘of companies' of robbers', or land pirates. file Spaniards have already experienced the effeets of such organizations. What man, who still feels the impulse of honour; will ever debase himself by such service ? Wretches; the scum of the population of the country; smugglers, and de predators torn or escaped from their prisons, and even convicts, whom society ,had chained, to secure its tranquility, so . far from entrusting to their hands the care of its defence—such are the heroes with whom these companies are-filled. It iseVident that such decrees 'spring ffom de spair and powerless rage alone. The authors of the war are conscious that the whole of Spain will finish .by acknowledging. King Joseph I. for its, laWful Sovereign. They know, that had the decision de pended on the valour of armies, it would have long since 'been given in his favour. It is in order to delay that happy moment, that they have recourse to measures as extraordinary as they are cruel, ,and which.can only be attended with the extermination of all thine in whose hands they have , placed the dagger and the swore. _ _ ROME,- JULY 20.—0 n the 15th of August next, the festival of St. Napoleon will be celebrated at the capital by a grand display of fire-works. In the evening the cupola of St. Peter, and the Vatican, will be illuminated. On the Ist of January next, the franc will become the only current small coin in this free and imperial city. The French and Italian coins, bearing the image of the Emperor, shall pass current with the coins of tit old Govern ment. The institution of the Sbirri is suppressed. The Roman States are to be divided into depart ments,' cantons, and commons. As soon as the publication of this new division takes place, the present denomination of our various provinces shall be altered. The administration of every department is to consist of a Prefect, A Secretary-General, a Council of Prefecture, and a Council-General of Department. The individuals confined in the pri sons can no longer be deprived of all communica tion with their friends, unless their subsequent condo& , render such additional severity indispensa ble. Every person who may be arrested shall im mediately be transferred to prison, and the motives for his arrest must be written and explained on the gaoler's book. FRANKFORT, JULY 24.—Letters from Turkey state, that a bloody battle has taken place between the Russians and the Turks, between Sophia and Adrianople. It is added, that the victory has been long and ,desperately disputed, but that the Russians have remained masters of a field of battle clearly purchased. Such are the contents of those letters. But news from that quarter, which travel so fast, are always uncertain or contradiCtory ; and we can get no positive and authentic informa tion of any event but a long while alter it has hap pened.r---li'ishermen have found in the Danube, about six miles from Scullin, the corpses of a great number of soldie rs. FRIBOURG, JULY 18.—By a circular letter, dated July 10, the Landatnnian of Switzerland, cotnwu • nicates to the Governtnents of the various G,lntons th e Decree unanimously passed o❑ the sth instant, by the Diet, .resFeding the present situation of Switzerland and its armed neutraiiiy, Tie Lan. damnian invites all lite dantoii to 6 , 5; tile 8H)1.;-a -tions of this Decree-, tons!st of 1 - olloWing forrri its chief i:otitent:; Diet adhereS to the SyStern of neutrality . adopted the entraorclinary Diet; in order to Secpre the krt. Violability of our territo r y. The Lotidamdnan is or: , dared to rake every, .diplornatic measure neceSsark to maintain that neutrality; The Military cordcri placed on our frontiers . shall retain its position; and may be increased to i.5,00ti Men, i the, total cl the federAl contingent, but it shall be diininaecl disbanded as • soon as circumstances will allow; without` endangering our safety and traitquility,=—. The Cantons-shall furnish successively, at the Lari.:, damman'S request, the contin ge n t Of money neces sary for the support of our troops. The Cantens are invited to be in,readinesSio'raik new soldiers, in Case his Excellency shOuld find himself colupelt e d tb,assernble a force that shoUld exceed thefirst fe deral contingent. At the sane time lie would obliged to call an extraordinary Diet. The'GovertiOr; of CantOtiS are also invited to enforce,the Striti eater= of the Police in'the interior, to prevent every step Which Might 'compromise our neutrality, and especiltiy to watch over the sale of all kinds of niu; nitions of Vi`str. NEWCzSTLE, AJGUSP On Thursday evening last, a very ildlent storm, accompanied by .a rernarkable veavy shower of rain and hail, blirst over :his town. The light ping awfully vivid, and peals of the most tremendous thunder followed each other in rapid succession ; the hail and rain fell in such torrents; that the streets were in an instant completely floo& ed. Considerable datrisge has been sustained in thii town. and neighbourhood from the A henie in Prince'S-sireet was struck h? it; and materially injured, nearly all the gli s s-i t i the witid.v frames being forced out, and the furnitdre, Scc. much burnt. A large party who werla at te:a were throwri . _ into a violent state of Jarrri by the lightning ewer= i Votg, the parlour in •which, they were seated, a n d o',.erg IttAning the tea-table and dispersing the chin the thorn.---The company, - Wean: hap 3.. ate; escaped unlitirt. • l'he lightning also struck down a chimney, and roof of Mr. Humble's dwelling-house near tt,e F.rth; and at the saute instant shatteted one AI the int,ars of I the front dpor, comninnicating.witn and •,!esti ny 'Eng : all the wires of the. bells in the first ~id scion t stn . ries, shattered thestock of a gun in the ,kitchen, alsO • the window shutters of three •rooms, paper, and tossing about the lime' from the tops o f the windows wherever the bell-wires cotninunicat4 I ed; then burst out :of the back stoirc ise _windoW with a dreadful explosion, similar to the, discharge of_ a.cannon, and' filling. the different rooms with black sulphurous smoke. Providentially, none of the family were materially hurt ; Mrs. Humble was deprived for a few' MitiufeS of her hearing, and experienced a numbness iti.one arm : one of • the servants was slightly scorched' in one hand. One of the wands of .a windmill in the tan-yard of Mr. Young, Derwent Crook, in this town, was set on fire, but was soon extinguished.: The hail -stones, or rather pieces of ice, were very large, and fell in great abundance ; great quantities of them, when. drifted .or scvel.., together, were form ed into such Cotripaet masses that they were not dis solved till late the next day. The same storm was also severely felt at Durharri, about P., o'clock. It was also there accompanied by a tremendous torrent of rain and hail-stones, many of which, when taken up, measured above an hull and a (laner in circumference. Great injury has been done :o several of the hot-houses in the neighbour hood of that city. Happily Alia storm did nut con tinue•above half an hour. • A most extrao . ..dinary case was tried at the lest Maryborongh Assizes io Ireland. It was briefly al follows :—Robert Baldwin, in March, 1789, made his will,. in which he devised certain lands to the children of his youngest son ; poon after which his faculties failed him, and he became altogether childish, and died in April, 1784, above 80 yearA old. The Defendant; and eldest son, immediatel',r afterwards gave out that his father had destroyed th . e will ; and no will being found, he entered into possession of the lands in question ; and so matters remained for 21'ye4rs; the whole family during,all dick time believing that the father had died without a will. But after 21 years, the delusion Vanished, and the Defendant's own children became the immediate • instruments of justice to the children of his brother. In the year 1802, the Defendant's wife died ; and he very soon afterwards, at the age o f 78, married a very young woman, which caused some anxiety to hit two sons, Robert and Edward Baldwin ; whose poignant expression of this feeling so exasperated their father, that he, in his resentment, executed his will to disinherit his eldest son, Robert ; and, in his fit of anger, shewed it to his second son, Ed ward, who instantly determined. to get at and de- • stroy it, in order to preserve the propery to his eldest brother. With this view, he broke open his father's desk, where he found—not his father's will, which he sought after, but the will of his grandfather, which was then altogether forgotten in the fatnii. He read it, and found that the estate, of which fither would have disinherited his brother, rea;ly • belonged to his cousins, the children of his late uncle John. He instantly communicated the irir portant discovery to his brother, and he to their uncle Jonathan ; in consequence of which, the will was, about the beginning of the year 1805, lodged in the Prerogative Court. When the Defendant v, a; apprised of the discovery of the will, he said it Ixat-4. very true, his father never did cancel hi& will ; but that he did it away by two deeds, by which he after wards conveyed his property to him ; and that those deeds were both registered. It appeared ; indeed ; that one such deed was registered since the discovery of the will ; but both deeds appearing foully suspi, dons, a bill was filed in the Court of Exchequer ; and on hearing of the cause in the last Term, the Counsel desired to have the opinion of a Jury on ' these alleged deeds. After a trial of eight hours, the Jury found a verdict for the Plaintiffs, with the full approbation of the Learned Judge, By this verdict the Plaintiff's, five in number, are aestored to an estate of about 3001. a year, of uhich, for f.:7 year, they hay , : been deprived by their ;AL4'e.,:, .~